1. Remember the Essentials.

Developing a “good name” is a deliberate, long-term endeavor that is grounded in three essential components:

• Clarity: We must have a thorough, holistic understanding of the reputation we ultimately desire.

• Intention: We must demonstrate perseverance and courage to stay the course and do everything in alignment with our goal.

• Consistency: We must live out this clarity and intention repeatedly—never wavering.

The truth is, building a respected brand reputation is not an external-first, contrived or manufactured process, as we are often led to believe. It instead starts with substance and integrity. Much like how good public relations doesn’t begin with perception—but principles—a name that is revered is, at its core, about authenticity and character. Building on that foundation, we can then leverage best practices to bolster its strength.

2. Start with the End in Mind.

Of course, any journey begins with identifying the destination. But in the case of determining a desired reputation, it should be more than compiling a list of attributes and accomplishments. Rather, what is the overarching narrative we aim to create; what meaningful impact will we or our organization have made; and what will live beyond us because of our decisions, effort and focus?

Reputation management must begin with an honest, thorough assessment of our reputational goals in order to orient us and guide every choice that we will make from now on.

For consideration:

• What would we want written in the history books about our organization or said at our funeral?

• What impact do we want to have on people—friends or constituents—and the world as a whole?

• What is our north star, which should be the lens for all decisions and actions?

3. Move Slowly + Protect Things.

You’ve likely heard the famous Mark Zuckerberg mantra, “move fast and break things,” which he touted at Facebook while designing and developing technology to beat the competition. That motto may work for some segments of the start-up sector, but when it comes to building and managing a reputation, we should heed the exact opposite advice and instead move slowly and protect things.

Policies, procedures and disciplines that have built-in guardrails, margin, boundaries, and checks and balances are essential to avoiding personal and organizational pitfalls. As the saying goes, “you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” so avoid hasty decisions and actions, and guard your reputation with wisdom and thoughtfulness.

For consideration:

• What areas may benefit from more margin and additional guardrails so that small errors have small consequences?

• Do we have a thorough, strategic, unhurried process for making decisions and changes with the end in mind?

4. Constantly Course Correct.

No one wakes up and decides, “I’m going to ruin my reputation today!” And yet it happens all the time—avoidable decisions and situations eventually lead to a leader’s or organization’s downfall. It often starts with a few minor choices that are not in alignment with the ultimate reputational goal. These incidents may be fairly harmless in the moment, but too often they grow into a pattern of poor decisions with increasingly harmful consequences.

Therefore, an important aspect of brand reputation management is constant evaluation and course correction.  Beware of any slight drift in personal or brand discipline; even if something seems relatively benign, a few degrees headed in the wrong direction will—over time—put you significantly off course and at an entirely different destination.

For consideration:

• Is this in alignment with my individual and/or organizational goals and values?

• Could this be misinterpreted or confusing to others?

• How might this play out over time, and what are the long-term implications?

• What are the systems in place to verify details and catch mistakes (fact-checking, editorial process)?

• When mistakes happen and something is revealed to be inaccurate, how do they handle corrections?

5. Assume Nothing Is Private, Nothing Is Personal.

With our own personal news outlets in each of our pockets (via smartphones and social media), nearly everything today is recorded and online. Videos, audio recordings, photos and screenshots of images, posts, texts, emails and direct messages—everything has the potential to live forever. The reality of our modern era is that nothing should be considered private; therefore, we must all assume that if we said it, wrote it or posted it, it is or could be in the public domain.

There are no communication silos anymore. As a leader or an organization, everything you are doing and saying is “on the record” for the court of public opinion.

For consideration:

• Would I be fine with this “private” social media post, text, email or phone call being broadcast on a billboard in Times Square?

6. Welcome Radical Accountability  

Often someone will ask us, “In all your years of seeing leaders and organizations in crisis situations, is there a common cautionary tale?” Our answer is one word that captures the root of most problems: isolation. When leaders do not have consistent, uninhibited transparency and accountability in their lives, they become a breeding ground for poor judgment and moral failure. 

Surrounded by “yes” people who are afraid to speak the truth, isolated leaders can’t see reality clearly, facilitating blind spots. In our experience, almost everything in the shadows will eventually find its way into the light (a public crisis). Therefore, invite trustworthy, wise, peer-level individuals to know and speak freely into practically every aspect of your life. And on an organizational level, ensure the board is filled with faithful and independent members who challenge, ask tough questions and assess everything in light of the vision, mission and values.

For consideration:

• Who have I invited into my life to fully know and regularly challenge me?

• Do those around me feel free to speak truth and ask difficult questions (and if so, do I listen)?

• Is there anything that if fully known could spark a public crisis for me personally or our organization?

• Does our board provide an appropriate balance of support, guidance and accountability?

7. Your Problem Probably Isn’t a PR Problem.

It’s important to realize that most public relations problems are actually management (personal or organizational) problems that have become public. We should consider this fact in light of reputation management for two reasons:  

First, understanding this reality should shape the development of postures, policies and practices (the “three Ps”) on everything—internally and externally.

Second, when a public incident or crisis takes place, your first move should be to look at these three Ps to see what failed and how you can fix it. Furthermore, the public will judge you based on your three Ps and no amount of PR can change this. Crisis communication is typically just communication about those three Ps; they should always be your offense, but will end up being your defense as well.

For consideration:

• What potential “PR problems” can we avoid by doing a risk and vulnerability assessment now?

• Is there anything for which we currently do not have a clearly defined and written posture, policy or practice?

• Have our postures, policies and practices been vetted by legal, communications and HR experts?

• Are all of our postures, policies and practices regularly communicated to our staff members, volunteers and stakeholders (as applicable)?

8. The Art of an Apology.

No individual or organization is immune to mistakes and self-inflicted problems, but how we handle a misstep is often the differentiator in the long-term impact and level of damage. People admire those who own their errors and take genuine steps to correct them. At some point you will likely fail to deliver on your reputational promise, but your response—in the form of taking responsibility, offering a genuine apology, making amends and taking steps to ensure it does not happen again—may regain, or even deepen, the trust and loyalty of your audience.

For consideration:

• Do: Own the issue in its entirety, even if other people or circumstances contributed to it. If you are the leader, be the leader.

• Do: Apologize for what you did, not what happened.

• Do: Use the word apologize and offer some form of reparations.

• Do: Outline steps you will take to ensure the mistake does not happen again.

• Do Not: Make a self-serving apology or imply that you were also a victim.

• Do Not: Minimize the situation, use the word “but” or place blame elsewhere.